via National Opportunity to Learn
Recent data released by the US Department of Education and the Hechlinger report revealed that funding disparities between rich school districts and poor school districts increased by 44% over the last decade. According to the National Opportunity to Learn, there is a funding gap of $1,500 per student.
Last week, the White House announced Rural Impact, an initiative to address the issue of increasing rural child poverty. According to the White House Rural Council’s official site, Rural Impact is an interagency effort which will take a “multi-generational approach to how public and private resources are invested in rural families and communities.” It will focus on the three major areas of “innovation, awareness and investment” and will receive support from the President, Cabinet officials, universities, foundations, nonprofits and community groups. The initiative will capitalize on present ongoing Administration efforts to address issues faced by children and families, particularly those in rural areas. The initiative aims to draw much-needed attention towards rural poverty, as too often, the focus on urban poverty public has dominated public policy.
Spurred to action by recent events in Ferguson, MO and New York, NY, as well as the “Black Lives Matter” movement, community leaders from Hertford and Bertie Counties gathered at the Hertford County Public Schools Central office in Winton, NC to discuss how to prevent a similar tragedy from happening in their community. Community leaders agreed that increasing positive interactions between the community and local law enforcement will be key to preventing potential tragedy.
A recent report conducted by Whiteboard advisors and funded by Idaho’s J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation revealed a “significant disconnect” between rural superintendents and Washington “insiders” that could account for the lack of suitable attention paid to rural education issues.
Overall, however, we found significant disconnects between the Insiders (administration and Capitol Hill officials and key education leaders in Washington) and rural superintendents. When we asked both groups to rank the three biggest problems facing rural school districts, there was no overlap. Superintendents said their top issues were lack of “full funding for special education,” paperwork and compliance requirements, and lack of flexibility for spending federal dollars. Insiders said the top challenges facing rural superintendents were recruiting and retaining teachers and lack of school and classroom technology. Moreover, two of the top three challenges cited by Idaho superintendents were issues that Insiders put at the bottom of their list. This helps explain why policies designed for the communities dominating the political and education debate are often poorly suited for rural districts.
Idaho Statesman | Guest Opinion: Rural Idaho leaders need to make education demands clear to Washington